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Virgin Galactic White Knight 2 Formation Near SFO

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Presumably this was with a Virgin aircraft. Anyone know for sure? (www.chonday.com) More...

Matt Lacey
OutspokenPromoterAnnouncer

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emjdrvr
Tim Huseby 2
This was all planned and done a few years ago when T2 in SFO opened
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flyingj481
flyingj481 2
The landing: http://youtu.be/RZg4HV5Cqo4
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randomguy
randomguy 2
old news, and yes, virgin aircraft and media flight.

http://boingboing.net/2011/04/06/flying-wing-to-wing.html
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[This poster has been suspended.]

howej011
Joseph Howes 1
no one claimed it was news, john's just saying that this happened a while back and has already been seen
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chriswclrk
Christopher Clark 1
So what? Some folks had not seen it yet... and it is new to them. Very exciting, cannot wait until they get up to space.
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joelwiley
joel wiley 1
When was this taken?
Whose airline was this shot from, and can we get pics from the photo plane that was flying behind?
Great footage.
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howej011
Joseph Howes 3
from the winglets it looks like a virgin america a320
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joelwiley
joel wiley 1
That would explain the cozy formation!
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jgrove4005
John Grove 1
Several pics are available of Virgin Atlantic's A319, N527VA, with the identical winglet design. Might have been a different ship used in this flight but it's pretty apparent it would have been one from VA.

( http://uppiluften.tumblr.com/post/29036111674/winglet-belonging-to-virgin-americas-tubular )
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ADXbear
ADXbear 1
This was probably done entirely for promotional purposes based on listening to the landing announcements.. so probably flown as a Part91 Non rev flight.. just an educated guess.. never the less very cool stuff..
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spinoneone
Paul Wisgerhof 1
Looks like the Beechcraft shadowing Virgin Galactic was set-up as a photo plane. Expect to see some commercials soon on your local TV.
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Aerodevelopments
R.W. Mann 1
Is formation flight even permitted under Part 121 or under Part 91 carrying passengers for hire?
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skykiel
donald kiel 1
Probably was!! SFO does do parallel approaches to 28's with two restrictions-One you wouldn't be that close to the other aircraft and two-the trailing aircraft CANNOT pass the lead aircraft. Fun approach, ALWAYS briefed the passengers so they knew what to expect and NOT alarm them!!
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dee9bee
dee9bee 1
I agree with flying481. The islands look like the Farallons, offshore from the Golden Gate. Maybe a charter flight for folks who have put down deposits for future space flights?
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joelwiley
joel wiley 1
Agree, Southeast Fallarone, check NOAA chart 18645.
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ArthurNetteler
Arthur Netteler 1
Very nice
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MikeMohle
Mike Mohle -2
TCAS anyone?!?!? Was it inop? If this was a real flight this would be quite a safety issue.
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Purdue13
Purdue13 4
First of all, TCAS doesn't even have anything to do with this. Secondly, if you've never flown a formation flight before, don't talk about the safety of a formation flight. WK2 was clearly at least 1 1/2 A320 wing spans away. Thirdly, if you have ever flown a formation flight, you wouldn't have even have commented about its safety.
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flyingj481
flyingj481 2
Watching the landing video makes it clear it was a press/promotional flight. I'm pretty sure this woudln't be done with just a random scheduled flight. I'd be willing to bet that everyone got on that plane knowing it was going to happen, and probably signed a waiver for it.
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